Hearing on petition challenges for Staten Island City Council candidates

Associated Press file photoThe City Council meets in its chambers. On Feb. 24, Staten Island's North Shore will vote on a representative to send to the Council.

The special election to fill Staten Island's North Shore City Council seat could really get interesting today.

A hearing will be held this afternoon at Board of Elections (BOE) headquarters in Lower Manhattan on petition challenges launched by Kenneth Mitchell against four other candidates in the race: Tom Curitore, Rajiv Gowda, Donald Pagano and John Tabacco.

The Rev. Dr. Tony Baker, Debi Rose and Paul Saryian are also in the race. Mitchell has not challenged their petition signatures.

In addition, the Advance has been told that some of the candidates in the North Shore race will hold a rally outside Borough Hall today to protest Mitchell's attempts to have opponents removed from the ballot.

In his challenge, Mitchell has said that his opponents gathered signatures from voters outside the North Shore district or from people who are not registered to vote.

Speaking to the impact the issue might have on voters, Mitchell said. "The law says you have to get 'X' number of valid signatures. It doesn't say 'do the best you can.' I think the voters are smart enough to realize you have to gather signatures that are valid."

Meanwhile, Republican Tony Cosentino is officially off the ballot for the Feb. 24 special election to fill the vacant North Shore City Council seat.

The Board of Elections (BOE) bounced Cosentino because his petition cover sheet did not properly state that he was running for City Council.

"That was a 'fatal flaw,'" said Cosentino, using BOE parlance signifying a petition error that the board will not permit a candidate to correct. "That knocked me off. The cover sheet was written quickly."

Cosentino, president of the North Shore Republican Club, also did not file enough petition signatures to qualify for the special election, even though that error was not the reason he was tossed from the ballot.